


through the years (nothing and everything changes)

by WattStalf



Series: Femslash February 2017 [25]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/F, Femslash Big Bang Yearly Challenge, Femslash February, Fluff, only a little bit, this deals with mortality so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-21 15:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9554165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Nothing has to really change, does it?





	

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know why i ship this but i do

They bond over being waitresses, really. That's how the two of them come to know each other, as waitresses in a very similar line of work, aligned with two families that have a close relationship. Edith and Lia, two women of very different worlds, are drawn to each other through these similar conditions, and become fast friends over it.

It isn't long before they become closer to one another than they are to anyone else. They are unlikely friends, but they are the best of friends. Even as they become more and more different over time, a distance does not grow between them.

Instead, feelings do.

~X~

The first time their hands brush, it is easy to pretend like it's an accident, but the second time, they linger for a bit too long. And the third time, they don't let go, and they smile at each other, with identical expression; nervous, unsure smiles, that shift as they start to try to reassure one another with their faces, and still, they don't let go. At least, they don't let go until they decide to try tangling their fingers together, rather than simply clasping their hands.

Edith quietly says, “Nothing has to really change, does it?”

“I don't understand,” replies Lia. “Nothing _has_ changed.”

Rather than growing distant, they only grow closer.

~X~

And so when they are alone, when they can afford to, they link their hands together, fingers tangled up, and they sit like that, and nothing else is really all that different. Sometimes, Lia is bold enough to lay her head on Edith's shoulder; sometimes, they sit back to back, heads leaned back onto one another. Sometimes they turn their heads and they're just a little bit too close.

Sometimes, when their breath mingles and their eyes lock, they think about what the next step is going to be.

~X~

But they don't go through with a next step just yet, even though the both of them have been thinking about it for a while. Realistically, they both know where this is going, even if neither has admitted it out loud, and both  _want_ to kiss the other, even if neither is willing to be the one to admit it first or make the first move. They stay the same for so long and it really becomes true what they said at the beginning.

Nothing changes between the two of them, for far too long.

~X~

The first thing that does change is not something to do with the relationship between the two of them, though it does change their relationship drastically. And Edith doesn't want to believe it at first, because it all seems too far fetched, it seems like a joke at first, and she doesn't understand what it is that Lia is trying to tell her.

Perhaps, she thinks, it's some sort of language barrier, because even though Lia's gotten better and better, there are still slip ups and she still gets confused sometimes. That must be all it means, and she smiles and says something to that effect, asking Lia to try to explain herself more clearly, but then the girl breaks her pinkie finger and, while she's screaming in pain and Edith is screaming in shock, it heals itself.

“I won't die now,” Lia says, repeating something she has already said, but this time, Edith knows what she means and the implications sink in as the other woman does her best to tell the whole story. Silently, she pulls Lia close to her, and holds on tight, even though she knows that she isn't the one who has to worry about losing anymore.

~X~

They have a hard time talking for a bit after that, as the differences between them suddenly grow, as a distance forms between them that neither has the power to cross, and even though they've never wanted things to change, that is outside of their power now. Slowly, they start to drift apart, and they don't grab hands quite so often, don't look each other in the eye quite so often.

Edith, more than anything, wants to bridge this gap, but she knows that it's unfair of her to ask for Lia to accept her like this, when she's going to have to lose her someday, so she decides it might be best for her to step back and let her friend- who has become so much more than that- go. But then, one day, Lia takes her hand and looks her in the eye, a new boldness there.

“Your life is short,” she says. “I don't want to miss any of it.”

This is the first time that they kiss, because Edith is so overwhelmed with happiness that she can't help herself.

~X~

“You're going to have to watch me age,” Edith says, “so that's why I thought...I thought it might be easier for us to part, before you had to deal with that.” She nuzzles closer to her, breathing in her scent and never wanting to forget this moment. If only they both had together forever, she thinks, but she would never dare to voice that aloud.

“You're going to have to watch me frozen in place,” replies Lia. “It isn't going to be easy for either of us.”

“Everything is different now, isn't it?”

“But nothing really has to change.” Edith hears her own words from before, in Lia's voice, and she knows that she's going to do her best to make sure that that remains true. For Lia's sake, at least, she has to be strong.

~X~

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

These words, spoken for the first time, have been hanging in the air between them for far too long.

~X~

At first, the years aren't that noticeable to either of them, but then, Edith begins to change physically, and Lia is just as she always was. One day, they'll look like they could be a mother and child; one day, a grandmother and grandchild; one day, Edith won't be around to be compared to her lover. There are differences between them that can't be done away with now, and there is a distance that can't be overcome, yet they keep going forward and ignoring these things.

Despite the distance, they have a closeness that no one can hope to understand but them, and despite their differences, they don't let it show that anything is changing. One day, Edith will no longer be beautiful, but Lia says she doesn't believe that is possible, and their hands always fit together, no matter how she ages.

~X~

To the very end, Lia doesn't let go of Edith's hand.

~X~

The woman is the casket looks a great deal different than the one that once smiled and said that nothing had to change, than the one that kissed Lia for the first time, than the one that Lia first confessed her love to, but even so, she is still beautiful, and, if Lia looks at her long enough, she can see the Edith of before. But if she looks at her long enough, tears start welling up again, so she brushes her hand against Edith's one last time before walking away, looking no different than she did the first time.

 


End file.
